National Assembly passes bill requiring data backup plan of IT service providers

A plenary session of the National Assembly is held on Thursday in Yeouido, western Seoul. Bills to prevent a massive IT service outage were passed during the Thursday session, after a 127-hour Kakao service meltdown was caused by a fire at a data center in October. [KIM KYEONG-ROK]

 
Following the 127-hour Kakao service shutdown in October, bills to prevent a future recurrence were passed Thursday in a plenary session of the National Assembly.
 
With the passage of the revision bills, IT service providers such as Kakao will be required to come up with a data redundancy system and a disaster recovery plan, among other preventive measures.
 
The new regulations will take effect in six months.
 
The three revised bills are: the Framework Act on Broadcasting Communications Development; the Telecommunication Business Act; and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.
 
The revision to the Framework Act mandated that “value-added telecommunication service providers,” which provide internet and communication-related services other than key telecommunication services, such as Kakao and major data center operators, implement a data redundancy system and a basic plan in case of disasters.
 
Previously, only telecom and broadcasting companies were required to take such preventive measures.
 
The other two amendments passed Thursday require the service providers to report to the Minister of Science and ICT on their plans to ensure a stable service operation. The companies are also obligated to report to the ICT Minister when their services are shut down in disaster situations.
 
The proposals were endorsed by the parliamentary committee of telecommunications on Dec. 1, and by the legislation and judiciary committee on Wednesday.
 
In 2020, the ICT committee passed a similar amendment proposal, but the legislation and judiciary committee dismissed the bill, citing over-regulation.
 
On Oct. 15, Kakao and its subsidiaries went through a massive service outage caused by a fire at an SK C&C data center.
 
The meltdown raised concerns over Korea’s heavy dependence on a handful of IT service providers, prompting legislators to come up with preventive measures.
 
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT completed its probe into the Kakao service outage and demanded the company to come up with preventive measures and a user compensation plan within a month.
 
Kakao held a conference on Wednesday, promising to triple its budget for service stabilization over the next five years.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]